by Wayne Adair, Hamilton
Anyone watching television here in the Bitterroot has been exposed to a flood of advertisements touting Republican Tim Sheehy’s plan to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Jon Tester.
Text in the ads lists one of Sheehy’s qualifications as being a “Trump-supporting conservative.” Let’s examine what kind of man he has embraced:
Sheehy supports a legally proven rapist.
On July 19, 2023, the Washington Post ran an article with this headline and article:
Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll
After Donald Trump was found liable in court for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, his legal team and defenders lodged a frequent talking point that Trump was not found liable for rape, but a lesser charge of sexual abuse.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan clarified that this is a legal distinction without a real-world difference. He says that the jury found Trump had in fact raped the victim, as the term is commonly understood.
Sheehy supports a legally proven traitor and insurrectionist. National Public Radio on Nov. 17, 2023, reported:
A Colorado judge finds Trump ‘engaged in insurrection…’
DENVER — A Colorado judge in November 2023 found that former President Donald Trump engaged in insurrection during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol but rejected an effort to keep the former president off the state’s primary ballot because it is unclear if a Civil War-era Constitutional amendment barring insurrectionists from public office applies to the presidency.
And worst of all:
Sheehy’s ads always emphasize his military experience. Veterans often insist their oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution has no expiration date and remains in force even after they take off the uniform.
That devotion to duty doesn’t apply to Tim Sheehy. His oath’s expiration date was Sunday, Dec. 3, 2022.
On that date Donald Trump said this as reported by CNN: “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote in a post on the social network Truth Social…
Trump-supporting Sheehy doesn’t deserve respect from anyone who loves our nation and defends our democratic traditions.
He certainly doesn’t deserve our votes.
Jon Tester does.